"...natural species are chosen not because they are 'good to eat' but because they are 'good to think'..."

Diet is so important.

Actually it's important that I go on a diet, but that isn't my point; I mean that the foods that people eat as individuals and societies determine, to a large degree, their cultures. Those foods are, in turn, largely determined - at least traditionally - by geography and climate, and - most importantly - by where you can grow spuds and what local animal tastes best with them...

I don't think this is an original thought. I suspect Lévi-Strauss of articulating it first.

Actually I suspect Lévi-Strauss of a great many things, including the theft of my mother's prize-winning tea caddy and being the owner of a sizeable, world-class collection of antimacassars; but that's not important right now...

It must be important though - if one wants to be wholly aware in the global economy, and to fully understand the multi-cultural society - to try as many of those animals as one can, preferably with the children of the spud; fries (or chips as the British call them).

So I have made a start.

I mean, a start over and above the obvious meats of beef, pork, lamb and chicken. Or, more properly, cow, pig, sheep and chicken (why hasn't the poor chicken been given a disguise to use when it's cooked)?

I have eaten duck, pheasant, grouse, partridge, reindeer, rabbit, goat, snails, octopus, squid, eels, whelks, mussels, oyster, lobster, crab, swordfish, stork, trout, cod, haddock, hoki, shark (in the form of hakarl and otherwise), puffin... and so many more.

Egrets? I've had few, But then again, too few to mention.

And, actually, when I say stork, I do really mean the margarine.